Railway-signal-actuating mechanism.



H. A. & J. A. HOESCHEN.

RAILWAY SIGNAL ACTUATING MECHANISM.

APPLICATION FIL ED AUG- 19, 1913.

Patentedikug. 29,1916.

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H. A. & J. A. HOESC HEN.

RAILWAY SIGNAL ACTUATING MECHANISM.

APPLICATION FILED AUG-l9, \913.

Patented Aug. 29, 1916.

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UNTTEU @TAEfl PATENT @FFT@E.

HENRY A. HOESCI-IEN AND JOSEPH A. HOESCI-IEN, OF OMAHA, NEBRASKA,ASSIGNORS, BY DIRECT AND MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, '10 HOESGHEN MANUFACTURINGCOMPANY, OF OMAHA, NEBRASKA, A CORPORATION OF NEBRASKA.

RAILWAYSIGNALACTUATING MECHANISM.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 29, 1916.

Application filed August 19, 1913. Serial No. 785,546.

To all 10 7mm it may concern Be it known that we, HENRY A. Hon- SCHENand JOSEPH A. l-IonsoHnN, citizens of the United States, and residentsof Omaha, in the county of Douglas and State of Nebraska, have inventedcertain new and useful Improvements in Railway-Signal- ActuatingMechanism, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates to railway signaling mechanism, and it is theobject thereof to provide a simple and positive means for actuating orcontrolling such signaling mechanism, utilizing as a motive force thedeflections or undulations caused in railwaytrack rails by the passageof trains over them.

A further object of our invention is to provide means for rendering theaction of the mechanism selective or in accordance with the direction ofmovement of the train causing the rail deflections or undulations.

Other and more specific objects of our invention will appearhereinafter.

In the accompanying drawings Figure 1 is a side view of a rail havingapplied thereto devices embodying our invention, Fig. 2 is a detailtransverse section on the plane of the line 2-2 of Fig. 1, Fig. 3 is adetail section on the plane of the line 33 of Fig. 1, Figs. 4, 5 and 6are diagrammatic views illustrating the movements'of the needlebeamcaused by deflections of the rail, Fig. 7 is a longitudinal verticalsection of the generator-casing on the plane of the line 77 of Fig. 8,Fig. 8 is a transverse vertical section on the plane of the line 8-8 ofFig. 9, Fig. 9 is a horizontal section on the plane of the line 99 ofFig. 8, and Fig. 10 is a detail side view of the shunt-switch.

The steel rails regularly employed in the construction of railway tracksare flexible enough so that pressure thereon of the wheels of cars andengines of normal weight is suflicient to cause measurable deflections01": the rails. These deflections appear to be in the form of curveddepressions of the rail-body, the radii of curvature, of course, beingvery great, the center of curvature being coincident with the wheel-axiswhen the latter is stationary, but probably lagging behind thewheel-axis more or less when the same is in motion. It will be apparentthat when a wheel is in motion along a rail the depression of the railbeneath the wheel will move along the rail and will constitute alongitudinally progressing wave-movement in the rail-body. It will alsobe obvious that the amount of depression or sag oi the rail will bear aproportional relation to the rigidity of the rail itself and of the roadbed on which the track is laid, and to the weight of the train whosewheels rest upon and move along the rail; but it has been found byexperiment that in practice there is always a sufficient depression ofthe rail to effect the operation of mechanism constructed in accordancewith our invention.

In carrying out our invention we provide a needle-beam 11 which isdisposed alongside a railway-track rail 12, one end of the needle-beambeing rigidly secured to the rail and all the remainder of the beambeing in proximity to but not secured to the rail. A simple andconvenient means for securing the beam to the rail is furnished by theclamps shown clearly in Fig.2. Each of said clamps comprises a member 18fitting around one side of the base-flange of the rail and having anupwardly extending lug l4: thereon, a similar member 15 fitting aroundthe other side of the rail base-flange, and a bolt'16 passing throughthe lower parts of the members 13 and 15, the bolt having a nut which isscrewed up so as to force the members toward each other and retain themsecurely upon the rail. Two of the clamps are preferably secured uponthe rail adjacent to each other, as shown in Fig. 1, and the needle-beamsecured to the lugs 14 by rivets 17. The needle-beam may be ofrectangular section, disposed with the longer sides of the sectionparallel with the rail-web, and is preferably tapered toward the free orunsecured end thereof, as shown in Fig. 1.

Referring now to- Figs. 4:, 5 and 6, the movements of the needle-beamcaused by the rolling of a wheel along the rail will be apparent. Insaid figures the rail and beam are represented by single lines which maybe considered as the longitudinal axes of the members. WVhen there is adeflection of the rail causing a curvature of the rail-axis at the pointof connection between the rail and needle-beam, the axis of the latterwill, obviously, extend tangentially to the curve of the raihaxis. It isassumed that normally the rail and. beam-axes are parallel, and in thedepression of the rail beneath the wheel W the amount of deflectionisshown by com beam is secured to the rail. From the respective figuresit will be seen that as the wheel, moving to the right, approaches thepoint of connection: between the rail and beam the free end of the beamwill be first moved upwardly, then downwardly toa position parallelwith'the railas the wheel is directly above thepoint of connection, and

will have "a further-downward movement as the wheel passes on to theright of the point of connection. If the wheelbe considered as moving tothe left, the successive directions of movement of the free end of thebeam will be reversed, said. end of the beam moving first downwardlyfrom the normal position and then upwardly. The extent of V the movementof the free end of the beam will be greater or less according to thelength of the beam from said free end to the point of connection withthe rail, but whenever the beam is of any considerable length 7 themovement of the free endwill be greater in extent than the undulationsin the railbody. The said movements of the needlebeam may be utilizedfor any desired purpose, but are peculiarly adaptable to actuate or tocontrol signal mechanism, and such signal mechanism may serve either to,simply indicate the passage of trains over the track at the pointwhere'the needle-beam is located, or to indicate the movement of trainspast said point in a particular direc- 'tion.

In the structure shown in the drawings the movements of the needle-beamare employed to actuate a' magneto-electrical generator,

which may be connected in an electrical circuit extending to mechanismlocated at a e as Q in a horizontal position, the pole-pieces anddistance therefrom, so that the electrical impulses produced by thegenerator may actuate or control said distant'mechanism.

' The generator comprises U-shaped perina nent magnets 18 which areprovided with pole pieces 19, coils 20 disposedv around the pole-pieces,and a pivoted armature 21 whichlis normally in contact with the ends of.the polespiecesa The generator is inclosed in a suitable casing 22 ofnon-magnetic metal, the magnets 18 beingdisposed coils depending fromthejends of ther-magnets, and thearmature engagingthe lower ends of thepole-piecesl The armature is lnclosed by aremovable plate 23 secured onspring being disposed between the said plate casing is fixedly securedto the rail 12 beneath the free end of the needle-beam, there being onthe cover-plate 24 a hook-shaped lug 25 fitting around one side of therail base -fiange, a clamp -member 26 fitting around the opposite sideof the base-flange, and a bolt 27 passing through the lug and the member26 to hold them securely upon the rail,

To the end of the needle-beam is pivotally connected a rod 28 whichextends downwardly into the generator-casing through a. packing-gland 29in the cover-plate 2a, the rod terminating just above the free end ofthe armature 21, after passing through a guide 30. Secured upon the rod28 midway between the guide 30 and cover-plate 2a is a. collar 31. As ameans of deadening and quickly suppressing mere vibratory movements ofthe needle-beam, the springs 32 and 33 are placed around the rod 28above and below the collar 31. The springs are inclosed and held under acertain normal compression by means of cylindrical casings disposedaround them, as shown. Said casings comprise tubular parts 34 securedrespectively to the cover-plate and to the easing adjoining the guide30, and cup-shaped parts 35 slidable within the tubular parts, theadjoining ends of the casing-parts having shoulders which are normallyheld in engagement with each other by the pressure of the springs on theparts 35. ends of the parts 35 engage the upper and lower sides of thecollar 31 so that upward movement of the rod 28 will increase thecompression of the spring 32, while downward movement of the rod willincrease the compression of the spring 33. The springs 32 and 33 are soproportioned and the initial or normal compression thereof is such thatwhile they will prevent or quickly suppress upwardly from the normalposition thereof g said finger will engage the head 40 and the lowerslde of the cas ng, a small 0011 move the piston-rod and pistonupwardly. 130

The closed A spring 42, disposed around the piston-rod within thecylinder, is compressed during the upward movement of the piston andtends to return the piston to the normal position thereof at the bottomof the cylinder. In the lower central part of the piston is'a transverseweb 43 to which the lower end of the piston-rod is attached, and on thelower side of said web is a valve-plate 44 which is slidable verticallyon 'a stud 45 that extends down from the web. A spring 46 disposedaround the stud normally holds the valve-plate against the web so thatthe open ings through the web are closed by the plate. The cylinder isfilled with a suitable fluid, preferably an oil of such quality as toremain liquid at low temperatures. When the piston is raised in thecylinder the fluid passes down through the valve, which closes as theupward movement ceases, and thus prevents the return of the liquidthrough the web to the upper part of the cylinder. The downward pressureexerted by the spring 42 will, however, force the piston slowlydownward, the liquid returning from the lower to the upper part of thecylinder by leakage around the piston which, as before noted, fitsloosely in the cylinder. Thus when the piston is raised it will remainfor a certain time in a more or less elevated position, but within adeterminable time will return to the normal lower position.

In a lateral extension of the casing 22 adjacent to the head 40 isarranged a shuntswitch comprising a contact-plate 47 and acontact-spring 48 which are suitably insulated from each other and fromthe casing, and which extend out into proximity to the head 40 as shownin Fig. 8. Above the contact-spring 48 and insulated therefrom is aspring-plate 49 of which the free end extends beneath the head 40. Whenthe piston-rod is in the normal lower position thereof the parts 48 and49 are pressed down by the head 40 so that the contact-spring 48 is inengagement with the upturned end of the contact-plate 47. The parts 48and 49 are formed so that they tend to curve upwardly to a position suchasshown in Fig. 10, at which the spring 48 is disengaged from the plate47. Thus when the pistonrod is raised the contact between theswitchparts is broken and the switch remains open until the pistonresumes its normal lower position.

In Fig. 9 the generator-coils 20 are shown as connected with wires 50which pass out of the casing 22 through a pipe 51 and which may extendto any suitable electrical signal or other appliance that it may bedesired to actuate or to control by means of the current produced by thegenerator. In said Fig. 9 the coils 20 are also shown as connected bywires 52 in parallel with the Shunt-switch contact-pieces 47 and 48.

The operation of the entire mechanism shown and described will now beapparent, and may be briefly summarized as follows: A wheel W movingalong the rail in one direction will cause first an upward movement andthen a downward movement of the free end of the needle-beam relativelyto the rail. A wheel moving in the other direction along the rail willcause first a downward movement and then an upward movement of the freeend of the needle-beam relatively to the rail. These movements of theneedle-beam relatively to the rail cause like movements of the rod 28relatively to the casing 22 and the mechanism carried thereby. Movementof the needle-beam upwardly from the normal position thereof causes anelevation of the piston-rod and a consequent opening of theshunt-circuit made through the switchparts 47 and 48, and theretardation of the downward movement of the piston causes theshunt-circuit to be held open for a determinable time. Movement of theneedlebeam downwardly from the normal position causes the rod 28 todisplace the armature 21 from the pole-pieces l9 and generates anelectrical impulse in the coils 20. If the shunt-circuit be closed whenthe impulse is generated in the coils it is obvious that practically theentire current produced will pass through the shunt-circuit, since theresistance thereof would be negligible as compared with that of theline-circuit made through the wires 50. Should the shuntcircuit be openwhen the impulse is generated in the coils, the entire current must passthrough the line-circuit. Thus the causation of an effective current inthe linecircuit may be made dependent on the direction of movement ofthe wheel W along the rail; the current passing to the linecircuit when(the first movement of the needlebeam being upward) the shunt-circuit isopened prior to the generation of the electrical impulse; and noeffective current passing to the line-circuit when (the first movementof the needle-beam being downward) the impulse is generated prior to theopening of the shunt-circuit.

It will be clearly seen by those skilled in the art that our inventionhas a wide range of utility and applicability, and that the scope of theinvention is not limited to the specific structures herein shown anddescribed, such structures being merely illustrative species comprisedwithin the generic idea of means constituting the primary invention.

Now, having described our invention, what we claim and desire to secureby Letters Patent is: r

1. The combination with a railway-track rail, of a beam disposedadjacent to the rail, and substantially parallel therewith, and meansfor securing one end of said beam to the rail, so that deflections ofthe rail at the j pointof connection oftlie beam therewith rail, of abeam having a part thereof at- .tached to the rail and a portionextending another part extending adjacent'to a por-w tion of the railremote from the, first, where a will cause movements of the free end ofthe beam relatively to that portion of the rail 7 adjoining the same.

7 2. The combination with ,a rail forming part 'of a railway track, of aneedle-beam disposed adjacent to the rail and extending longitudinallythereof and having one of its ends rigidly secured to the rail, wherebyundulatory movements of the rail at the secured end of the needle-beamwill cause oscillatory movements of the free end of the needle-beam.

3. The combination with a railway-track free and substantially parallelwith the rail 7 a to a considerable distance from the railattached part,whereby slight undulations in the rail-body will cause movements of thefree portion of the beam greater in extent thanthe undulations.

4. The combination with a railway-track rail, of a rectilinear beamhaving a portion rigidly secured to a part of the rail and exby therelations of the latter parts of the member and the rail are variable bylongitudinally progressing wave-motions in the rail-body, and theinitial directions of said variations are in accordance with thedirections of progression of the wave-motions.

6. In a railway signaling mechanism, a

' track-rail,a beam having one end rigidly secured to the rail, theother end of the beam being free and extending adjacent to the rail at apoint distant from the point of connection or the rail and beam, anelectrical cirfor'controlling the switch by movements of said end of thebeam relatively rcuit, a switch controlling 'said'circuit, meansmechanically connectingthe switch with the rail adjacent to the free endofthe beam, and means'connected with said end of the beam cent portionofthe rail. I '77.]In a railway slgnaling mechanism, a

tracksrail, a needle-beam having-one end o fixedly secured to the railand a free portion extending adjacent to the rail remote from jthe'secured end, resilient'means connected with the rail adjacent to' thefree portion of the beam," and means connected with said portion of'thebeam and engageable with said" resilientmeans. r 8. In a railwaysignalmgmechanism, a

track-rail, aneedle beam having a portion to the adja fixedly attachedto the rail and a free portion extending adjacent to the rail at a pointremote from the attached portion, a pair of compressible parts connectedwith the rail adjacent to the free portion of the beam, means fornormally retaining said parts under a certain stress, and-meansconnected with the tree portion of the needle-beam and cooperating withthe compressible parts to restrain vibratory movements of said portionof the beam relatively to the adjacent portion of the rail.

9. In a railway signaling mechanism, a track-rail, a magneto-electricalgenerator disposed adjacent to a portion of the rail and having amovablearmature, a member having a normal position adjacent to said aneedle-beam connected with said member,

the needle-beam extending to a part of the rail remote from the movablemember and being rigidly secured to said rail-part.

11. In a railway signaling mechanism, a track-rail, a casing secured tothe rail, a magneto-electrical generator disposed in said casing, anelectrical circuit connected with said generator, a switch disposed inthe casing and controlling said circuit, a movable member extending intothe casing for actuating the generator and the switch, and a needle-beamconnected with said member,the needle-beam extending to and beingrigidly secured to a part of the rail remote I from the casing.

12. In a railway signaling mechanism, a track-rail, a casing secured tosaid rail, a magneto-electrical generator disposed in said casing, anelectrical circuit connected rwith said generator, a switch disposed inthe casing and controlling said circuit, a reciprocatory memberextending into the casing-and adapted to actuate the generator bymovement in one direction from a normal position and to control theswitch by movement in the other direction from said normal position, andmeans for actuating said member from normal position initially inaccordance with the dlrection of longitudi- 'nally progressingwave-motions in the rail.

- '13. Ina railway signaling mechanism, a track-rail, an electricalcircuit, a switch controlling the electrical circuit, a movable memberfor actuating the switch, means tending to move said member in onedirection, means for retarding movement of the member in said direction,an actuating part for moving the member in the other direction, andmeans connecting said part and the rail so that the initial movementthereof from normal position is in accordance with the direction oflongitudinally progressing wave-motions in the rail-body.

14. In a railway signaling mechanism, a track-rail, a rigid memberhaving a part secured to the rail and a free part extending to a pointremote from the secured part, the said free part being movable initiallyfrom normal position in accordance with the direction of longitudinallyprogressing wave-motion in the rail, an electrical circuit, meanscontrolling said circuit, and means connected with the free part of saidrigid member for actuating said controlling means.

15. In a railway signaling mechanism, a track-rail, a rigid membersecured to the rail and having a free part movable initially from anormal position in accordance with the direction of longitudinallyprogressingwave-motions in the rail, an electrical circuit, a generatorconnected in said circuit, a switch controlling said circuit, areciprocating part for actuating the switch, means for retardingmovement of said part in one direction, and means connected with thefree part of the rigid member and movable thereby to actuate thegenerator and the reciprocating part alternately.

16. In a railway signaling mechanism, a track-rail subject tolongitudinally progressing undulations in the body thereof, a memberfixedly secured to the rail so as to be moved in alternating directionsby the undulations of the rail-body, the initial movements of saidmember from normal position being in accordance with the direction ofprogression of the undulations along the rail, means actuated bymovement of the member in one direction from its normal position, andother means actuated by movement of the member in the other directionfrom its normal position.

In testimony whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names in thepresence of two witnesses.

HENRY A. I-IOESCHEN. JOSEPH A. HOESCHEN.

Witnesses:

D. O. BARNELL, H. P. RYNER.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G.

